Catheters are flexible medical instruments which facilitate the withdrawal and introduction of fluids from and to body cavities, ducts, and vessels. Catheters may have particular application in a hemodialysis procedure where blood is withdrawn from a blood vessel for treatment, and subsequently returned to the blood vessel for circulation. Known hemodialysis catheter assemblies include multiple lumen catheters, such as dual lumen or triple-lumen catheters, which permit bi-directional fluid flow within the catheter, with one lumen dedicated for withdrawal of blood from a vessel and the other lumen dedicated for return of treated blood to the vessel. During an exemplary hemodialysis procedure, a multiple lumen catheter is inserted into a body and blood is withdrawn through an arterial lumen of the catheter. The removed blood is directed, via extension tubes, to a hemodialysis machine which dialyzes, or purifies, the blood to remove waste and toxins.
Typically, an extension tube assembly is connected to a proximal end of the multilumen catheter and is adapted to communicate with a medical device such as a hemodialysis machine. The extension tube assembly includes a first extension tube for communicating an arterial lumen of a catheter to a hemodialysis machine and a second extension tube for communicating a venous lumen of a catheter with the hemodialysis machine.
Multilumen catheters for dialysis treatment are placed within a patient for use over extended periods of time. During such use, the extension tubes can wear, requiring replacement of the dialysis catheter and/or the extension tube assembly.